Anyone out there have any knowledge of chemical weapons, in particular mustard gas? I'm using it in a novel and had a couple questions on delivery method. From what I've found via Google, I think it will work, but not totally sure.
It's for an erotic romance story, so my readers probably wouldn't know the difference. But I would.
Well, a romance involving mustard gas, points for originality
first, the short facts:
"Mustard gas" is a liquid, it is heavy, oily and stable. It is a nsaty weapon, having no symptoms during exposure. victims will get symptoms two to twenty four hours later, when antidotes are no longer effective.
Mustard agent attacks the skin, eyes, lungs and gastro-intestinal tract. Internal organs may also be injured, as a result of mustard agent being taken up into the body.
Symptoms of mustard agent poisoning extend over a wide range. Mild injuries consist of aching eyes with abundant flow of tears, inflammation of the skin, irritation of the mucous membrane, hoarseness, coughing and sneezing.
Severe injuries are incapacitating and may involve eye injuries with loss of sight, the formation of blisters on the skin (damage as 2nd dgree burns, but heals slower), nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea together with severe respiration difficulty.
If the affected area of skin is >50% of the body, death is likely after several days or even weeks. (This may be far less likely for victims in a modern ICU specialized in burns.)
sulphur mustard as it is also called, can cause temporary or permananent blindness if it you get it in the eyes, Some degree of damage is likely to persist for 30-40 years after exposure.
See:
http://morichesdaily.com/2010/08/toxic-munitions-dumping-sites-shores/mustardgas-blister/
When weaponized, there are two dispersal methods, explosion and spray. Spray is usually delivered with aircraft. Either through overpressure, or gravity delivery. This can take place from up to ten thousand feet if light, wind and temperature is favourable. to achieve a good coverage, a plane passing at 1000 feet, using 700 pounds of agent will cover an area some 4000 by 1000 feet.
The second type of delivery is explosion, simply put a stick of dynamite in a barrel of agent, and is will be spread over a wide area. the effects will be droplets like rain over the immediate area, and a cloud drifting downwind, initially rising and then sinking. this will be followed by a second cloud of vapour from the droplets.
80 pounds of agent dispersed in this manner will cover a rough circle with a 40 feet radius.
(Njmbers from US Air Force calculations 1942)
Now, the above areas are what the military considers enough to be effective against a dispersed trained enemy. The effect on a civilian crowd would be horrific if the amount of liquid was large enough. Even if the drops are well spread, a day later several hundred people would be panicking in the ER:s
I do not know how much weight you can put in a fireworks rocket, but according to
http://www.jpyro.com/refseries/dispnotes/DN-05-02.pdf
there should be no problem putting up some 40 pounds of agent with ten 8 inch mortars.
If the antagonists know what they are doing, they could rig the fuses to blow when the bombs are on their way down.
My estimation of success would be "Tricky". If the bad guys can train ahead of time with dummy agent but similar weather and wind conditions, I'd say the odds would be fair to good to get a mass panic and temporarily overwhelm the ER:s
If you want immediate panic, use Lewisite. It starts to burn immediately on contact.